EVALUATION OF CROP ALBEDO OF DIFFERENT SUNFLOWER CROP ROTATION CULTIVARS AND ITS EFFECT ON LATENT HEAT FLUX

Abstract Surface albedo is expressed as the fraction of incoming shortwave solar radiation reflected by the surface. Surface albedo is one of the primary factors influencing regional and global climates as well as ecological and biophysical processes especially in the study of water and energy fluxes of ecosystems. In these research areas, accurate determination of net radiation plays a vital role for determination of the fluxes. In this study, it is aimed to establish the crop albedo values of three sunflower cultivars in the northwestern part of Turkey where sunflower production is represented as country’s production. It can be seen that crop albedo values are related to the crop and meteorological factors like crop phenology, soil moisture etc. Crop albedo also varies by each cultivars of sunflower. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) albedo values and in-situ measurements were compared within this study. In the light of this perspective, albedo is considerably sensitive parameter and has influence on the latent heat flux. Also, comparison between calculated latent heat flux from MODIS data and in-situ measurements were investigated.